Product Manager, Self Publishing

Job Description:

Here at Rakuten Kobo Inc. we offer a casual working start-up environment and a group of friendly and talented individuals. Our employees rank us highly in terms of commitment to work/life balance. We realize that for our people to be innovative, creative and passionate they need to feel valued and supported. We believe in rewarding all our employees with competitive salaries, performance based annual bonuses, stock options and training opportunities.

If you’re looking for a company that inspires passion, personal, and professional growth– join Kobo and come help us make reading lives better.

The Role

Our Business Operations team is searching for an enthusiastic Product Manager, Self Publishing who can help shape the way customers interact with our products and services.  As the Product Manager, you will be a key leader on the team and drive our plans to modernize the systems, processes, and tools powering Kobo’s self publishing business (Kobo Writing Life), our author community, and publishers. The ideal candidate has experience working on technical products, with proven ability to build product capabilities. You are diligent, exhibit exceptional attention to detail, and are a strong communicator.  

You will be part of a diverse and collaborative environment, working with multiple stakeholders and various teams including R&D, Product, and Content to take new features from idea to reality. Your day-to-day tasks include research, writing various product documentation, planning initiatives, defining product iterations, being responsible for managing a product backlog & roadmap, reporting and analyzing product performance for continuous improvements. If you’re driven, analytical, creative, organized, adaptable, performance-focused, and able to deliver high-quality work within a fast-paced environment, we want to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the Self Publishing product management function, working closely with digital catalog teams and other product areas to optimize operations and enable business growth
• You must be proficient with the four core functions of product management:
  • Understand the user, our business, and the broader market. This means identifying user problems and determining how they impact business performance.
  • Identify the right problems to solve based on user and business impact
  • Deliver by working with the software development team to prioritize and plan
  • Analyze the data to understand product performance and then plan for what’s next
• Define a vision and roadmap for the self publishing platform and communicate it throughout the organization to gain alignment
• Write high-level requirements and work with stakeholders to agree on the scope of an initiative related to your product
• Collaborate with R&D teams: lead workshops, refine requirements, write user stories, validate on completed work, plan releases, manage and prioritize backlogs
• Communicate the status of current initiatives and keep teams informed of progress
• Review research, user feedback channels, and product analytics, seeking problems to solve and opportunities to improve your product

The Skillset

• 4+ years experience working in a product management role; experience in digital content or eCommerce a plus
• Outstanding verbal and written communication to various audiences within the organization
• Demonstrated ability to convey insights from complex analysis to non-technical business users at varying levels of familiarity
• Technical experience and curiosity, with the ability to demonstrate the importance and impact of technical work to non-technical audiences
• A track record of identifying important user problems, executing on them with high impact to the users and organization
• Strong analytic skills and quantitative skills to deeply understand the space, the product’s performance, identifying opportunities and gaps
• Experience working in an Agile software development environment
• Curious and actively staying ahead of competitive landscapes and industry trends
• Outstanding organizational skills, self-motivated, creative problem solver with high attention to detail
• Dedication to continual self-improvement and learning
• A love of reading, obviously

The Perks: 

• Flexible hours and remote working environment
• 4 extended summer long weekends
• Full benefits starting from your first day
• Paid Volunteer days, unlimited sick days, and 3% RRSP matching
• Monthly commuting allowance for hybrid employees
• Flexible health spending account
• Training budget + Udemy account
• Free Kobo device + free weekly e-book or audiobook
• Weekly Kobo Tech University sessions
• Maternity/paternity leave top up
• 90 Day Work from Anywhere program
• Daily lunch credit when in-office and in-office snacks
• Dog friendly office 

About Rakuten Kobo Inc.  
Owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten and headquartered in Toronto, Rakuten Kobo Inc. is one of the most advanced global ecommerce companies, with the world’s most innovative e-reading services offering more than 6 million eBooks and audiobooks to 30 million + customers in 190 countries. Kobo delivers the best digital reading experience through creative innovation, award-winning e-readers, and top-ranking mobile apps. Kobo is a part of the Rakuten group of companies. 

Rakuten Kobo Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Accessibility accommodations for candidates with disabilities participating in the selection process are available on request. Any information received related to accommodation needs of applicants will be addressed confidentially. 

Rakuten Kobo would like to thank all applicants for their interest in this role however only qualified candidates will be shortlisted. 

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